More schools picked for seismic upgrades

The province is promising $122 million for seismic upgrades at 14 high priority schools, while nearly 140 other schools also deemed highly vulnerable in a major earthquake will wait in line behind them.

Schools slated for upgrades include South Delta Secondary in Delta, Aberdeen Elementary in Abbotsford, Alpha Secondary in Burnaby, Banting Middle School in Coquitlam, Argyle Secondary in North Vancouver, C.E. Barry Intermediate in Hope and École des Pionniers in Port Coquitlam. Three other schools in Vancouver and three more on Vancouver Island were also identified.

The projects were picked from most-recent district capital plans and represent top-ranked projects based on an updated assessment of seismic safety risk, according to the province.

But they represent less than 10 per cent of the 152 high-priority schools now identified on a revised list for upgrades under the School Seismic Mitigation Program. (See complete list below.)

The estimated cost of repairs to all high-priority schools is pegged at $1.3 billion.

Some old schools slated for upgrades were built more than a half century ago when seismic risks weren’t well understood.

“This is the next step in our ongoing and comprehensive program to make B.C. schools safe in the event of a major earthquake,” Education Minister George Abbott said.

He said the aim is to get all 152 high-risk schools retrofitted or replaced over the next five to 10 years.

A technical team led by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C. have been working to refine risk assessments and response strategies at UBC’s Earthquake Engineering Research Facility.

“Since the onset of the Seismic Mitigation Program in 2005, we have learned more about the nature of earthquakes, how structures behave during these kinds of events, and how to predict their behaviour,” facility director Carlos Ventura said.

The province is exploring options to provide more money for non-structural safety improvement at medium- and low-ranked schools starting in 2013.

B.C. has spent $790 million on school seismic upgrades over the past decade.

So far, work is either beginning, underway or complete on 137 seismic upgrade projects across the province.